Sir – I was brought up to play all sports and games fairly, never cheat and, whether you win or lose, behave graciously.
Sadly, too many of our professional sportsmen don’t live up to these ideals. But when one of our main political parties also fails the test, it is truly shocking.
Two months ago, the ward in which I live (North) had a Liberal Democrat councillor. His resignation caused a by-election which Labour has just won on a swing of 13.7 per cent from the Liberal Democrats.
From a situation in which the Liberal Democrats held both the council seats in North, they now have none.
Yet what has just come flying through my letterbox? A newsletter claiming that, in reality, the Liberal Democrats did brilliantly.
The headline reads ‘Big swing to Lib Dems from other parties’. This is truly astonishing in the face of what actually happened. If that party wishes to practise self-delusion, it is free to do so, but it is wholly dishonest to pretend you sort of won the election.
The other element in my sporting ethic is that, if you cannot accept defeat, you shouldn’t compete in the first place. The same surely applies to politics.
Stuart Skyte, Oxford
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